The Wright brothers invented the windtunnel to collect the engineering data that would allow them to design their first airplane rationally on the basis of physical principal rather than as an exercise in "novelty." Novelty in and of itself isn't necessarily rational. The bumblebee's wings operate in a different flight mode (clap-twist-snap) than an airplane's wings and applying airplane wing theory to a bumble bee is just a misapplication of that theory. To imply that a misapplication of a theory invalidates that theory is not an example of rational thought. The X-29 only became practical with the development of fly-by-wire dynamic stability and control systems (another engineering triumph of rational thought).